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Beyond 140 characters

On Jan. 20, 2017, President Donald Trump was sworn in, marking the first of the 1,462 days that the United States will be governed by a man who referred to journalists as being “among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” This statement, while mild in comparison to the deplorable remarks Trump ...


Opinions

Kumar ’17: The unequal equalizer

What’s the point of college? On my final first day of class as an undergraduate, this question looms at the top of my mind. “Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility,” a paper co-authored by Associate Professor of Economics John Friedman, provides one answer: socioeconomic ...


Opinions

Editors' Note

Today’s issue marks the final Herald of the semester and the last produced under the 126th Editorial Board. The Herald will publish breaking news updates online during finals and over winter break, and regular publication will resume Wednesday, Jan. 25. We hope you continue to engage with The Herald ...


Opinions

Kumar '17: American messiah

The Brown University Chorus will perform the first part of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” Friday evening in Sayles Hall. I plan on attending. Even though I’m not religious, the music of the two-and-a-half hour oratorio moves me every time I have the pleasure of hearing it. As I look ahead ...


Opinions

Papendorp '17: TAs are underpaid

When I accepted a position as an undergraduate teaching assistant this fall, I assumed that I would be paid in accordance with the hours I worked, like any other job. So imagine my surprise when I received an email from an administrator in the department of neuroscience, informing me that I would be ...


Opinions

Rowland '17: UFB: the true nucleus of the cell

Over Thanksgiving break, I used my brief leisure time to do something I generally don’t get to do: read a book for pleasure. I picked up Doris Kearn Goodwin’s biography of President Lyndon Johnson and found myself immersed in the account of Johnson’s college years, which detailed his early involvement ...


Opinions

Letter: Brown should go gender-blind in admission

To the Editor: I wish to thank The Herald for its Nov. 30 article, “Brown consistently admits male applicants at higher rate.” This is an important topic for all members of the Brown community to consider. The article accurately quotes me saying I am “skeptical” of the argument put forth by ...


Opinions

Nwizu '17: One Africa one people

The Executive Board of the African Student Association — AfriSA — would like to address the concerns recently published in an op-ed in The Herald by Daniel Murage ’17, a member of the African community. In this piece, we wish to address the concerns and demonstrate our commitment to our mission. ...


Opinions

Savello '18: Gender should play no role in admissions

This December, as early decision admission results loom, it’s important to consider the methodology that goes into accepting students to Brown. While GPA, standardized tests and activities are all well-known for being high priority factors in the decision, a lesser known factor is also influencing ...


Opinions

Hu '18: Stop tolerating sexual violence

This year, we watched our country condemn Brock Turner and then elect an alleged rapist for president in a span of less than six months. We made endless cracks about the absurdity of “Pussygate” and witnessed a confession of sexual assault be casually dismissed as “locker room talk” but forgot ...


Opinions

Meyer '17: Paxson caught in the middle

During the election, journalists wrote that covering President-Elect Donald Trump created a conflict between their obligations of accuracy and balance. Writing about the plain facts of the campaign seemed biased against Trump because he was so grossly unqualified. “If Trump is outside the frame of ...


Opinions

Flynn '20: History and its ugly but important legacy

A little less than a year ago, as part of a wider controversy surrounding racial tension at Princeton, student protesters demanded the removal of Woodrow Wilson’s name from campus institutions. Wilson — a Princeton alum, 13th President of the university and 28th President of the United States — ...


Opinions

Esemplare '18: The failure of progressivism

In the aftermath of a historic and surprising election outcome, Americans have come forth with a plethora of explanations for the seemingly inexplicable, many of which focus on the electorate’s latent sexism or former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s perceived shortcomings. But ...


Opinions

Vilsan '19: Tackling pervasive sexism

As any woman can tell you, we are constantly caught in a catch-22 of gender inequality. We are told that sexism in modern Western society is close to being obsolete, that glass ceilings have been shattered. Of course. That must be why the highly qualified and proven fighter in former Democratic presidential ...


Opinions

Murage '17: Afrisa for whom?

If we are to believe the media and historical texts, then most African governments were corrupt, are corrupt or are on their way to corruption. But the continent’s citizens have always been vigilant, condemning and protesting against their leaders and their corrupt ways. This steadfast fight among ...


Opinions

Johnson ’19: Absent absentee votes

I rode the RIPTA downtown Nov. 8 wearing a white shirt (to salute suffragette pioneers) with the words “cats against catcalls” (to separate my body from President-elect Donald Trump’s  pussy-grabbing world) to vote in my first presidential election. My eyes unexpectedly pooled with tears when ...


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